The study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University shows that as many as 23 million people aged 40 and above have suffered a head injury. These head injuries can have possibly serious consequences, like neurological damage, depression and stroke. Persons with a head injury, according to the research, are also more likely to suffer from alcoholism and sleep problems.

Most new automobiles boast of a wide array of auto safety features. However, do you know how these work in keeping you safe? Failure to understand how auto safety technology works may actually increase a motorist’s risk of an accident.

Truck drivers with diabetes who were hitherto barred from driving unless they had an exemption from the federal administration, can now operate commercial trucks under certain conditions.

Earlier truckers who suffered from insulin-treated diabetes mellitus (ITDM) were prohibited from driving commercial motor vehicles in interstate commerce unless they received an exemption from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. However, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has now approved a final rule that allows truck drivers with this form of diabetes to operate commercial motor vehicles if they can provide a medical certificate that states that the driver is following a stringent insulin regimen and is maintaining control of his disease.

Amputation victims who use prosthetic or artificial limbs may find it hard to cope with the use of the new limb. Researchers have been experimenting with virtual reality technology to enhance the use of such prosthetics for these persons.

Amputations can result after nearly any type of accident, including car, truck or motorcycle accidents. Amputations can also occur after the person has suffered a crushing injury in a workplace accident, or as the result of a fall. In many such injury cases, surgically amputating the injured limb may be the only medical option available to doctors.

Loss of bladder control is extremely common after a spinal injury. A team of UCLA researchers recently announced that they have successfully tried magnetic device therapy to enhance bladder control significantly in patients with a spinal injury.

As many as 80 percent of patients who have suffered a spinal cord injury lose control over their bladder function. This is an embarrassing and inconvenient condition that causes great trauma and anguish to patients, and drastically lowers the quality of life they can expect after an injury.

Driver error is a major factor in car accidents. Drivers who are fatigued or distracted are at a higher risk of causing a car accident that injures themselves and/or other motorists. Self driving auto technology aims to eliminate, in part at least, the role of driver error in causing accidents. Many of these systems are designed to maintain safe speeds, and avoid traffic obstructions or objects in the path of the car. Many are also designed to warn the driver or activate the brakes in order to avoid an accident.

The nation’s leading pediatrician group now advises that parents continue to use rear- facing car seats for much longer than previously defined in order to minimize the risk of injuries to their child in the event of an accident.

Up until now, the American Academy of Pediatrics had advised that children be restrained in rear-facing car seats at least until they reach two years of age. However, now the group has changed its recommendation, and advises that children be restrained in rear- facing car safety seats at least until they reach the minimum height and weight that their seat is designed to hold.

Over the past few years, millions of vehicles equipped with Takata airbags have been recalled across the United States as reports of injuries involving defective airbags have snowballed. Now, a government audit stringently criticizes the federal administration’s product recall procedures, specifically pointing out to the Takata airbag scandal as an example of the agency’s inefficiency.

The USDOT’s Office of the Inspector General clearly states that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration lacks the kind of processes and oversight that is necessary to make sure that product recalls are completed, and keep consumers safe. The audit report specifically blames the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s monitoring process that is not designed to ensure that remedies are tracked in a timely and efficient manner. The federal agency also does not have a system in place to completely and accurately verify recall completion statistics, even though it is authorized to do so.

Parents who use cell phones while driving are also much more at risk for other unsafe driving behaviors like drunk driving or failing to wear seatbelts while driving that place them and their children at risk of an accident.

A new report shows that most nursing homes often operate under lower staffing levels than they have reported to the government, placing residents at risk of abuse and neglect.

The report was released by Kaiser Health News, and was based on Medicare data. The agency only recently began collecting such staffing data on more than 14,000 such nursing facilities across the country. The data clearly indicates that there are fluctuations in staffing on a day-to-day basis in most nursing homes. Weekends tend to be critically understaffed, with large percentages of staffing shortages reported over the weekend.

The fact that nursing home staffing levels may not be consistent throughout the year has only now come to light after Medicare recently began collecting this important information. It is a suspicion, however, that Indianapolis nursing home abuse attorneys have had for several years.